Reference is made to sorting systems particularly such as used for letter mail described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,901,089 issued to Lawrence J. Kamm and Jacob Rabinow dated Aug. 25, 1959. See also U.S. Pat. No. 3,538,338, issued to me on Nov. 3, 1970, which shows another type of optical escort memory. Reference is also made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,080,985, which shows a method for setting the code wheels of the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 2,901,089. An additional patent of interest may be U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,340, issued to Andrew E'Aloia on May 10, 1977, which shows a modification of the letter carrier system first disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 2,901,089.
Escort memories may be of many types -- mechanical memories, such as shown in the referenced patents referred to above; optical memory, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,538,338, mentioned above; magnetic recordings either carried by the conveyor belt or by members attached thereto; and so on.